Hi.
I have a MAC Pro running FCS2 with the AJA Kona LHE card. I am struggling to setup my system for audio- monitoring.

Currently I have connected my Mackie MR5 loudspeakers to the XLR outputs on the AJA card but I have 3 issues I would like to solve.

1: I cannot control the audio- level out from my MAC, making the audio sound distorted
2: I hear some noise in the loudspeakers when I turn the volume on the Mackie`s down
3: I cannot get the audio to play in perfect sync, though I have tried to delay the audio in the system settings withing FCP

Is this the correct setup or would I be better off buying a soundmixer? I have been thinking of getting one because I need to do voice- overs as well.

You need to use the KONA control panel to properly setup both your video and audio in's and out's. This may be why you're having distortion and delay issues.

Most near-field monitors have a little bit of what's called "floor noise" which sounds like a low "hiss" or white noise even when no signal is going to them. Mackie and M-Audio have notoriously had higher-than-average floor noise compared to other models, so it could be this is all you're hearing. However, if you're hearing a "hum" rather than a high-pitched hiss then you might also be having some issues with an impedance mis-match.

Try your KONA control panel first (read the docs from AJA about how to setup your audio properly) and see if that helps.

I use a Mackie mixing board with our Mackie powered monitors. I use the mixing board (Onyx....can't remember the exact model....the smallest version) for monitor level control, headphone level control, talk back to the audio booth, etc.... In addition all audio outputs from our external equipment is also connected to the audio mixer.

I'd spend the money and at least get a small audio mixing board....you'll be glad you did.

1) I hate that Berringer litterly stole Mackie's mixing board layouts and designs only to have them produced for half the price in China. So I guess I have a soft spot for Mackie as they were the innovators.

2) Mackie has this cool feature called the "Alt 3/4 Mute Button" on each channel. Here's how it works... Instead of a standard Mute button that just mutes the channel, Mackie's Mute button actually reroutes the channels output to the Alt 3/4 output jacks. This is how I have our system hooked up. I have everything running into the various channels of the mixing board, and the Alt 3/4 outputs running into our MOTU firewire audio card. So when ever I want to send something to the computer to record it (ie: the microphone, Beta SP deck, DVD player, DVCAM VCR, etc...) I just press the Mute button for that channel and it's automatically routed to the computer. Simple and easy. No cabling to mess with every time you need to record something.

When we first got our AJA Io HD, I tried using it as an firewire audio device like you are trying to do. But I had lots of problems with the audio being out of sync.

I would recommend that you buy a small audio board, and hook the output of your AJA Io HD into one the channel inputs on the audio board. Then hook the audio output from your Mac into another channel input on your audio board. You can also connect the audio outputs from a microphone, CD player, DVD player, etc... to the inputs of your new audio board. Then connect your powered speakers to the Control Room outputs on your audio board and you'll be all set.

The AJA Io HD doesn't have very low "audio latency" and wasn't designed to be used as a audio only device. On the other hand, when you're monitoring BOTH the video and audio together coming out of the AJA, then it works great.

So for example, when you're monitoring Final Cut Pro, you'll be monitoring the video and audio together out of the AJA Io HD. But when you're watching a movie in Quicktime Player, you'll be monitoring the audio via you're computer audio output jack.

Don't assign the AJA Io HD as your audio input or output in Mac OS X>System Preferences>Sound or you'll have lots of problems. (don't ask how I know)